Agrihouse Foundation solicits corporate support for 1Household, 1Garden Initiative
Agrihouse Foundation, an agribusiness non-governmental organisation, has appealed to corporate and donor organisations to support its 1Household, 1Garden Initiative for it to be expanded across the sixteen regions of the country.
The Executive Director of Agrihouse Foundation, Alberta Nana Akyaa Akoso, who made the appeal when she briefed the media on the programme last Friday, said the response to the initiative had been overwhelming.
“There are increasing calls on Agrihouse Foundation from people across the country asking when the programme will be extended to their regions,” she said.
Agrihouse Foundation introduced the 1Household, 1Garden Initiative in the heat of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, to help improve the nutrition of women and children, enhance food security in the country and also increase the incomes of women and People Living with Disabilities (PWDs).
The 1House, 1Garden Initiative, is under the sponsorship of United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).
Ms Akosa said the project which was targeted at 2000 people currently had benefited more than 5400 people, especially women and PWDs in the Northern and North East Regions.
She said 4,968 beneficiaries of the programme in the two Northern Regions were females, while 432 were males.
She said the programme which was started in Accra was expanded to the Northern and North East Regions through the support from the USAID and AGRA the programme.
Some of the districts which benefitted from the programme were Mamprugu Moagduri in the North East, Mion, Sagnarigu, Nanton, Gushegu, Karaga and Yendi Municipal in the Northern Region.
Ms Akoso indicated that the programme was also implemented in ten public schools in the two regions.
She said about 700 people in Accra registered online and about 300 people were supported with seeds and kits to embark on backyard gardens.
“Agrihouse Foundation visited the homes about 87 of the applicants to support and teach them how set up their backyard gardens,” the Executive Director of Agrihouse Foundation, stated.
Ms Akosa said the beneficiaries were provided with seeds, seedlings, watering cans and fence materials.
She said the beneficiaries were given seeds such as onion, tomato, pepper, cucumber, green pepper, carrot and okro.
“The beneficiaries were also taught how to nurse seeds, prepare beds and produce organic herbicides to protect their vegetables from insect attacks.
In addition, the Executive Director of Agrihouse Foundation disclosed that Vegetable Screen Houses had been created to help women who did not have backyard compounds to embark on backyard garden.
She said her outfit had secured lands at about 15 acres of lands for the Vegetable Screen Houses.
Ms Akosa said the programme would next month be extended to Upper East and West Regions, adding that with support and funding, it would be extended to all the regions of the country.
The Executive Director encouraged the public to embrace the 1Household, 1Garden Initiative to produce their own food and sell some to supplement their incomes.
Ms Akosa said Agrihouse Foundation had received invitations from some organisations in Liberia and Rwanda to introduce the 1Household, 1Garden Initiative in those countries.
BY KINGSLEY ASARE
